Yep, it is the benzoyl peroxide. My shirts and towels I am not careful with get the bleached colors. The only thing I could think of to do is wash your hands with soap and water after using BP and waiting for the BP to completely dry before putting on a shirt. You can also apply it sparingly to the areas your neck touches your collar.

well how about putting on a shirt first? i know a lot of people that complain about bleaching put on BP first, then a shirt. but then the shirt has to go by all that area that you JUST applied BP too. if you are doing it that way, try reversing that and going "shirt first, BP second."

also be very careful when applying BP to your neckline, to check when you raise your arms or lean forward or something just how high your neckline is going to reach, so you know where to be careful.

I have discovered over the years that the brand and color of my shirts is a determining factor in how susceptible they are to being bleached. I assume this is due to the specific dyes and quality of dyes used on the material, though you will notice below that there are certain lower-cost shirts that don't seem to bleach.

While I only apply BP to my face, I still frequently bleach shirts when they accidentally come in contact with my face or BP residue on my neck/chest.

Here's some info based upon my experience...

- Geoffrey Beene: By far the most bleach resistant brand of dress shirts I own. I'm not sure that I've ever bleached a collar on a blue or green Geoffrey Beene dress shirt.

- Hugo Boss: 50/50 proposition - some are great; some bleach upon first contact.

- DKNY: I honestly can't remember.

- Kenneth Cole (Reaction): Blues and grays don't seem to bleach at all.

- French Connection: I don't think I've ever been able to wear a colored FCUK shirt more than twice. I bleach them in places that I don't even think come in contact with BP residue.

- Mossimo: I don't think I've ever bleached a T-shirt made my Mossimo. I do not, however, have any experience with this company's collared dress shirts.

- Joseph Abboud: I purchased a few not long ago and have not bleached any of them.

- BCBG: I purchased a few not long ago and have not bleached any of them.

- J Crew: I bleach about 25% of these shirts.

- Banana Republic: The only one I've ever bleached was a tan T-shirt, and it was severely bleached after two uses.

Independent of the brand, I find that light blues, grays and light green dress shirts tend to have a lower probabibility of becoming bleached by BP. I'm sure there are other variables that account for whether or not a specific color/brand of shirt is easily bleached so, unfortunately, experimentation (and, sadly, some wasted money) is the only way to find out.

Hope this helps...and I'm open to hearing any brand/color suggestions from anyone else who keeps track of his/her experience with this issue.

See if these tips help. http://www.acne.org/faq.html#prevent-bleach

Thank you for all the replies!!! Gonna do a little experimenting and figure out what I can do to end this.

Thanks Again!!!!

J.Reyes

I have dealt with this frustration as well. I always feel like the nice shirts I don't want to bleach are the first to go!

I have taken a look through my closet and I think I'm onto something. It seems like synthetic materials are a lot more resistant to bleaching than cotton! I have a few shirts that say 65% polyester/ 35% cotton and they are all perfectly fine! While many of my pure cotton shirts have been damaged after only two or three wears.

Has anyone else noticed that trend in the material of the clothing?

Haha. So essentially this is a deal - get rid of acne with BP and bleach your clothing (jackets, sweaters, everything with collars), or stay with acne but save clothing. I was already happy by the fact that BP can clear acne, but then I recalled about all my clothing with collars and got sad.